Power the Future Regional Program
Tetra Tech is working to improve Central Asian economies by deploying renewable energy, increasing energy efficiency, and fostering effective, enabling environments for private sector investment in clean energy.
Clean energy is critical for economic growth across Central Asia. In the countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, emissions from energy production and consumption account for more than 85 percent of the region’s total emissions. Providing clean, renewable energy and improving current energy efficiency efforts will help resolve issues of energy security, stability, and increasing levels of emissions. The inefficient use of heat, poor utility performance, aging power infrastructure, inadequate regional grid connectivity, and challenges to establishing strong national systems and institutions all impact the speed of economic progress in this region.
Tetra Tech is supporting the Power the Future program’s renewable energy initiatives across Central Asia to help fulfill the goals of the U.S. Department of State's C5+1 Environment Working Group and to improve the region’s future economic prosperity. This group addresses common environmental development challenges faced by the United States and Central Asia as a platform for joint counterefforts. The program’s collaborative renewable energy working groups further their progress by bringing together key energy sector entities, such as the International Agency for Renewable Energy, Asian Development Bank, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and the World Bank. Tetra Tech is working to improve regional access to research and information on these challenges by developing a knowledge library, with industry information that will help officials make educated policy changes that encourage private investment in renewable energy. Power the Future also supports the development of an improved policy framework, with an emphasis on renewable energy and energy efficiency scenarios in Central Asia.
Kazakhstan has advanced its progress toward energy security by establishing the goal of bringing the share of new renewable energy in electricity generation from zero to 50 percent by 2050. With the Power the Future program’s initial focus on Kazakhstan, Tetra Tech is supporting its Ministry of Energy (MOE), the Kazakhstan Electricity Grid Operating Company (KEGOC), and other key energy stakeholders in power sector planning. Tetra Tech is supporting the Kazakhstan government in implementing auctions to select renewable energy projects that will ensure transparency and attract leading investors and contractors. Tetra Tech is helping to update laws, regulations, and technical standards to better facilitate investment; increase deployment of grid-connected renewable energy; and improve planning to increase the overall efficiency of the power system. Tetra Tech also is working with the MOE, KEGOC, utilities, developers, and universities to improve the accuracy and forecasting of renewable energy on the grid. Tetra Tech is performing this work while strengthening local capacity through practical training and university curriculum on renewable energy technologies, managing climate risk, and facilitating partnerships. Tetra Tech also is promoting gender equality and female empowerment by building a professional network among senior and junior women in energy across the region.